HAMPTON, Ga. — Ford dominated Saturday qualifying at Atlanta as Michael McDowell took the top starting spot ahead of the playoff opener.
McDowell in the No. 34 Ford for Front Row Motorsports set the fastest lap with an average speed of 179.261 mph for his fifth pole of 2024. The five poles is tied with Kyle Larson for the most this year in the Cup Series.
Seven Ford cars qualified inside the top 10 for Sunday’s race.
Defending series champion Ryan Blaney will start on the front row alongside McDowell, with Todd Gilliland of Front Row, Josh Berry of Stewart-Haas Racing and Austin Cindric of Team Penske also being Ford drivers in the top 10.
Larson in a Chevrolet, Joey Logano in a Ford, Austin Dillon and William Byron in Chevrolets, and Chase Briscoe in a Ford rounded out the top 10.
Playoff drivers Alex Bowman and Harrison Burton qualified 11th and 12th, and 2020 champion Chase Elliott was 16th. Brad Keselowski qualified 19th.
Toyota struggled to find speed in Saturday qualifying. Ty Gibbs, in his playoff debut, was the manufacturer’s top qualifier in 20th position. He was followed by teammate Martin Truex Jr. in 22nd and Tyler Reddick of 23XI Racing in 23rd.
Denny Hamlin, a three-time winner in 2024, was notably slow in the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota and will start 38th — last — in Sunday’s race. Hamlin’s qualifying speed of 167.665 mph was over 2 mph slower than 37th-place qualifier J.J. Yeley.
Toyota Racing Development was evaluating the engine ahead of Sunday’s race.
“They see a few red flags certainly, so they’ll dig into it tonight and get it fixed,” Hamlin said. “It means we start last, and then we’ll just battle to the front. We feel good about what we brought. It’s just, we’ve got to get it to the finish.”